Called "the world's reigning male chorus" by The New Yorker, the San Francisco-based, GRAMMY award winning ensemble Chanticleer celebrates its 41st season in 2018-19. Last season, Chanticleer performed 51 concerts in 21 of the United States, 27 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and 8 in Poland, Germany, France and Spain. Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for its "tonal luxuriance and crisply etched clarity," Chanticleer is known around the world as "an orchestra of voices" for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices, ranging from soprano to bass, and its original interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz and popular genres, as well as contemporary compositions. Chanticleer's 2018-19 Season is the fourth under the direction of Music Director William Fred Scott.
The group is named after the clear-singing rooster in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. They have recorded more than 30 albums for Teldec/Warner Classics and Chanticleer Records.
The Chanticleer Home Page
Chanticleer's youtube videos
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
Supplemental Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
Carlos Kalmar is in his fifteenth season as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. He is also the artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. A regular guest conductor with major orchestras in America, Europe and Asia, Kalmar recently made his subscription series debuts with three of America's most prestigious orchestras: those of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. Past engagements have seen him on the podium with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony.
In May, 2011 he made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall with the Oregon Symphony as part of the inaugural Spring for Music festival. Both his imaginative program, Music for a Time of War, and the performance itself were hailed by critics. New Yorker magazine critic Alex Ross called the Oregon Symphony's Carnegie Hall performance under Kalmar "the highlight of the festival and one of the most gripping events of the current season."
Carlos Kalmar, born in Uruguay to Austrian parents, showed an early interest in music and began violin studies at the age of six. By the time he was fifteen his musical promise was such that his family moved back to Austria in order for him to study conducting with Karl Osterreicher at the Vienna Academy of Music. Today he lives in Portland with his wife, Raffaela, and sons, Luca and Claudio.
Ahrim Kim is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader who joined the RPO in 2015 as principal cellist. She was awarded the Cassado Prize at the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Japan and top prizes in numerous other competitions, including the Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Five Towns Music Competition, and the Corpus Christi International Competition. She has performed solo and chamber repertoire at Boston's Symphony Hall, The Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Sarasota Music Festival, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, and the Salzburg Mozarteum. She was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-15 season as acting principal cellist, and she has also played in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she taught and played at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. She was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-15 season as acting principal cellist, and she has also played in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she taught and played at the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim began her cello studies at the age of six. She moved to the U.S. in 2002 and studied cello through Juilliard's Pre-College Division for young musicians. She holds a master's degree in cello performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she also earned her bachelor's degree under the tutelage of Laurence Lesser and Natasha Brofsky.
Kim was awarded the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association as the cellist of the Klimt Trio. As a chamber musician, she has participated in festivals such as Yellow Barn, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and Marlboro.
The Rochester Philharmonic Home Page
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert
The distinguished American pianist Jon Nakamatsu—known internationally for the panache and elegance of his solo, concerto, and chamber performances—has become a favorite with audiences throughout the world. As a prolific recording artist, Mr. Nakamatsu has set to disc numerous seminal performances on the harmonia mundi label. In his review of Mr. Nakamatsu's recent performance of Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2, Daniel J. Kushner writes in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: "Nakamatsu evinced brilliant musicianship. His tone and articulation sparkled and shimmered, while his use of dynamics and energy brought out the lifeblood of each and every phrase."
The last season brought Mr. Nakamatsu opportunities to perform with some of the finest North American orchestras, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Bozeman Symphony, Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, Toledo Symphony, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, San Jose Wind Symphony, and Symphoria in Syracuse. Chamber music engagements similarly took him across the United States to Chamber Music Columbus, Brookings Chamber Music Society, Music at Kohl Mansion, Chamber Music International, and Dallas Chamber Music Society, where he collaborated with Imani Winds.
Mr. Nakamatsu has been an active guest soloist with leading orchestras throughout his career; among them the orchestras of Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Rochester, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Berlin, Milan, and Tokyo. He has collaborated with such esteemed conductors as James Conlon, Philippe Entremont, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Gerard Schwarz, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Tilson Thomas and Osmo Vänskä . His numerous summer engagements have included appearances at the Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, Vail, Wolftrap, and Britt festivals. In 1999, Mr. Nakamatsu performed at the White House at the special invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton.
A high school teacher of German with no formal conservatory training, Jon Nakamatsu's electrifying performance of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto won him the Gold Medal at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition amidst a field of experienced competition warriors. Mr. Nakamatsu had studied privately with the late Marina Derryberry from the age of six, and worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, son of the great pianist Artur Schnabel. He also studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California, and pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in German Studies and a master's degree in Education.
American-born conductor Ward Stare has been described as "one of the hottest young conductors in America" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and "a rising star in the conducting firmament" by the Chicago Tribune. He was recently appointed music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent seasons included a number of highly anticipated debuts with orchestras around the world, including performances with the Baltimore Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony.
He made his debut with the Grant Park Music Festival in July of 2015, and returned to the New World Symphony in 2016. Stare’s frequent collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Chicago began with his debut in 2012 conducting performances of Hansel and Gretel; he returned in 2013 to lead Die Fledermaus, and again in November 2014 to lead Porgy and Bess to rave reviews. Following his critically acclaimed debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) in 2013 conducting Il Tabarro and Pagliacci, Stare returned to OTSL the next season for performances of Dialogues of the Carmelites. He made his debut with the Washington National Opera conducting Donizetti’s comic opera L’elisir d’amore in 2014.
Stare served as resident conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2008 to 2012. In 2009, he made his highly successful Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra, stepping in at the last minute to lead H. K. Gruber’s Frankenstein! The 2013-14 season saw his return to the Atlanta and Detroit symphony orchestras, as well as his debuts with the Syracuse Symphoria, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic with Lang Lang as soloist. Other recent engagements include the Houston, Québec, and Dallas symphonies, as well as numerous engagements with the Saint Louis Symphony where he served as a regular guest conductor on the orchestra’s 2012-13 Family, Special Event, and Subscription series.
The Rochester Philharmonic Home Page
YouTube clip of Jon Nakamatsu playing Stravinsky's Etude opus 7 No. 4.
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
This concert is partially supported by a grant of public funds from NYSCA's Decentralization Program, administered locally by Finger Lakes Community Arts Grants (FLCAG).
Join the champion Irish step dancers of Darrah Carr Dance for a whirlwind celebration of Irish music and dance. The Bessie-Award nominated company imbues the Ceilidh—a traditional social gathering of song, music, and dance—with their contemporary vision and brings a bold new twist to conventional Irish step dance. Enjoy their lightning-fast renditions of both hard shoe and soft shoe styles set to live music on fiddle, accordion, spoons, guitar, and bodhrán (goat skin drum). Among the featured performers is Trent Kowalik, Tony Award winner and the original star of Broadway's Billy Elliot.
Since 1998, the Bessie Award nominated company Darrah Carr Dance has created a sensational and unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. The company draws from Irish music, step dance footwork, and spatial patterns to create high-energy, rhythmically based work that is accessible to a broad audience. Artistic Director Darrah Carr calls her style ModERIN: a playful combination of the words modern (dance) and ERIN (an Irish American reference to Ireland).
Recent New York City performance highlights include: NBC's "The Today Show," a guest performance with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the company's annual season at The Irish Arts Center, "The Yeats Project" at the Irish Repertory Theatre, the annual NYC Irish Dance Festival, and a guest appearance with Mick Moloney at the Skirball Center. The company has performed at venues throughout the United States including MASS MoCA, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. They have also appeared at the Toronto Fringe Festival and at the Bank of Ireland Arts Center in Dublin.
Darrah Carr (Artistic Director and Choreographer) holds an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University. Named one of the "Top 40 Under 40" by The Irish Echo one of the "Top 100 Irish Americans of the Year" by Irish America Magazine, and one of the "Most Influential Women of 2010" by The Irish Voice, Carr grew up in Ohio where she and her three sisters enrolled in the Tim O'Hare School of Irish Dance as a means of celebrating their Irish heritage. Now based in New York City, Carr has been active for over fifteen years in both the Irish and modern dance communities as a choreographer, dancer, educator, and writer. Carr recently received the New York City Comptroller's Irish Heritage Award in recognition of her substantial contributions to the cultural life of New York's Irish community.
Darrah Carr Dance Home Page
Celtic Jazz Tryst Promo Video from November 2016.
This concert is partially supported by a grant of public funds from NYSCA's Decentralization Program, administered locally by Finger Lakes Community Arts Grants (FLCAG).
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert.
Gold medalist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 28-year-old pianist Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for "his total command over the instrument and its expressiveness" (San Francisco Examiner). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, "strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music," and hopes to convey those fundamental emotions to audiences.
Born in Anyang, South Korea, Mr. Sunwoo began learning piano at age 8. He gave both his recital and orchestra debuts in 2004 in Seoul before moving to the United States in 2005 to study with Seymour Lipkin at the Curtis Institute of Music. He earned his bachelor's degree there, his master's at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald, and his artist diploma at the Mannes School of Music with Richard Goode. He currently studies under Bernd Goetzke in Hannover.
The first Korean to win Cliburn gold, Mr. Sunwoo launched his debut season in 2017–2018 with invitations to the Aspen, Grand Teton, and Duszniki International Music Festivals. Recitals will take him to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, and he undertakes a nine-city tour of the United States with the National Orchestra of Cuba in the spring. In Europe, Mr. Sunwoo makes his United Kingdom concerto debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Jose Luis Gomez, appears in the first full season at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and performs in Brussels, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Madrid, Helsingborg, and across Germany. His appearances in Asia include those in Beirut, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and across South Korea.
Record label Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after his Cliburn win, which includes his award-winning performances of Ravel's La valse and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Sonata. The album reached #1 on the Traditional Classical Album Billboard charts.
In addition to the Cliburn gold medal, Mr. Sunwoo has won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award in Frankfurt, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, the 2013 Sendai International Music Competition, and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competition.
A self-proclaimed foodie, Mr. Sunwoo enjoys finding pho in each city he visits and takes pride in his own homemade Korean soups. His dream gig: Either the Berlin Philharmonic or the New York Philharmonic, performing Brahms Concerto No. 1, with Sir Simon Rattle.
Michael Francis has quickly established himself internationally. Known for maintaining a diverse repertoire while paying particular homage to the composers of his native Britain, Francis enjoys great reception throughout North America, Europe and Far East Asia.
Last season, Francis debuted with Berlin Radio Symphony, Philharmonia, Minnesota and Pacific Symphony orchestras. He returned to Komische Oper Berlin, Seoul Philharmonic, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis Symphony orchestras. Previous guest and return appearances in North America have included Cleveland Orchestra, New York, Cincinnati, Houston, Atlanta and Pittsburgh, as well as the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. In the UK, his has worked with London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony.
After several years as a tenured double-bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), he came to prominence as a conductor in January 2007, replacing an indisposed Valery Gergiev for concerts with the LSO during the BBC's Gubaidulina festival at the Barbican Centre. Just one month later, Francis was asked, this time with only two hours' notice, to replace the composer/conductor John Adams in a performance of his own works with the LSO withthe Philharmonie Luxembourg. Soon after in January 2009, he replaced André Previn leading a German tour of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony with Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Now entering his fourth season as Music Director of The Florida Orchestra, Michael Francis' contract has already been extended to 2021. He is also Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, where he has launched an ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart's life.
Francis makes his home outside of Tampa, FL with his wife Cindy and two-year-old daughter Annabella.
The Rochester Philharmonic Home Page
YouTube clip of Michael Francis rehearsing with The Florida Orchestra.
YouTube clip of Yekwon Sunwoo playing Ravel's La Valse.
Program Notes for the Evening's Concert
This concert is partially supported by a grant of public funds from NYSCA's Decentralization Program, administered locally by Finger Lakes Community Arts Grants (FLCAG).
This series is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Williams Family Foundation,by a continuing subscription from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, by a grant from the Wyckoff Family Foundation, by a grant of public funds from NYSCA's Decentralization Program, administered locally by Finger Lakes Community Arts Grants (FLCAG),and by the friends of Geneva Concerts.
